Hi everyone,

I am going gorilla trekking next June. Went yesterday to wire the money for my permits to R&N Xplorer. They bank at Barclays Bank Kenya Meru Branch. I asked Nyagah to please email if there were any problems because it all went through on my side as far as I know. This morning I woke up and saw an email from Nyagah saying the bank is requesting my DOB, address and passport number.

Advice? It's been about 4 years since I last did a wire transfer to Africa, so I cannot remember if this is out of the ordinary.

Thanks.

Duh!
There's no space on the Bank Wiring Form to even include this info, least of all being asked.

However, I can understand that the vendor R&NXplorer wants your name (as it appears on passport), mailing address/phone #, email, and yes your Passport number. She can then provide that to the bank, but still beats me why the bank wants to know... they've got the $$$. Unless, of course, it's one of those new rules pertaining to "money laundering/terrorism"

Example: transactions over $10K have to be reported and lots of questions asked.

We live in a different world these days.

Thanks, Sandi. Luckily my wire is far less than 10k!

I foten transfer money to african countries incl. uganda, kenya, taz, bots, zim, zam, SA....

I do it all online.

Never ever have iI been asked for the details above. I just transfer and ask the recipient to give me a shout as soon as the amount has hit his/her account.

Never any problem - nor any data request.

As sandi stated - online you fill in what's needed and - done! No space/request for details other than amount, currency, name of recipient, bank and bank account (IBAN), swift(BIC, address bank and recipient's address, fees/who pay what/which.

The TA/TO particularly for the permits need details (name shown in passport, issued by..... date)

SV

I should add - transfers of 13 and 19 thousand US$ is no prob from Germany to Africa.

SV

I've never been asked for those details either. The last wire I sent was in July. I'm wondering if they actually need it for the permits? Or if you've asked them to book your NBO-KGL flights, they may need it for the flight booking.

SV - there's no problem with large wire transfers, regardless destination, but those over 10K (even ordinary bank business within the US) are simply earmarked in case there's some fishy stuff going on, NOT

sandi - I was referring to the "lots of questions asked". I have not experienced any questionnaire in that regard.

SV

Leely,

Did you ask your bank about this? Perhaps they might have some experience with the questions being asked. I can't imagine why the bank would need DOB.

Yeah, the DOB thing seems odd to me. I vaguely recall tour ops/TAs needing my passport number in the past. My bank hadn't the foggiest because the transaction had already gone through from our side. R&N are legit so I can't figure this one out...I haven't asked them to book my NBO-KGL flights.

For posterity, I'll add to this thread when I have answers.

Thanks, everyone.